Play area with wet pour

We have just completed a brand new children’s playground which features playground play equipment manufactured entirely out of recycled plastic as opposed to the traditionally used timber. The customer wanted to use this material because they totally understood and appreciated its benefits  – in that recycled plastic lasts a lot longer than traditional timber, doesn’t rot or corrode, is hard to vandalise and requires very minimal on-going maintenance.

The playground consists of low level adventure trim trail items including a balance beam, wobbly log bridge, stepping stones, traverse wall, log weave and all encompassing activity cube with nets and bars. The playground has to cater for a diverse age range of child from 3-11 so the playground had to be designed in a way that was all-inclusive.

There are also some play towers – one is low level (set at a metre off the ground) for the younger children which has an adjoining bridge between the two towers and the other is set higher at 1.5m for the older children to enjoy. This tower features a slide, some steps and a net ladder.

The whole area has then received a rubber wet pour safety surface in a green fleck colour.

For more information on our range of recycled plastic play equipment, please visit

Trim trail in straight line

Our outdoor classroom pods are becoming increasingly popular in schools who are using them for a whole variety or reasons – outdoor classroom, forest school shelter, library, nurture room and even as an office!

They are pre-manufactured units which come delivered off the back of a truck and are then either lifted into position with a hi-ab crane or fork lifted. This means that on-site time at a school is minimal – about a couple of hours in the majority of cases – so minimal disruptance to the school day.

If they are being sited onto a hard surface – such as tarmac playground – then there is no need to put down any sort of sub-base. But a lot of schools want to site them on a playing field or in their forest school area where grass or mud is the typical surface. In this instance, some sort of base such as a concrete pad or stone groundworks is required to be installed before the pod can arrive – if this work is outsourced to a ground works contractor, we have found that this can add quite a bit to the overall cost and usually takes a day to lay and then has to have time to cure.

But we have now have a far better solution. We use what are basically giant screws which are put into the ground with a special high torque drilling machine (these screw fixings can go into all surfaces including tarmac) at specific interval sections for the floor bearers underneath the pod (each pod typically requires 8 to 8 ground screws) and which can be installed within a couple of hours. There is also no need for any concrete to be used. And the price is significantly cheaper than a concrete pad or plinth. And we can organise the whole job for the school so no need to be involved with multiple companies. Theoretically the grounds screws could be installed in the morning and the pod delivered in the afternoon – not bad for the supply of an outdoor classroom!

For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or visit www.hideouthouse.com

We totally understand that if a school is looking to buy a product that is over a certain amount of money (usually £3-5k), then this capital expenditure has to be approved by the Board of Governors. And we also totally appreciate that a school has to get a minimum of three quotes and as part of their due diligence needs to prove “value for money” in the decision making process.

So we thought that we would outline below how the Hideout House Company meets this criteria and how we can offer a school value for money with its product range. I think it is also fair to point out initially in this post that we do not necessarily subscribe to the school of thought that value for money automatically means the cheapest price. There are always very good reasons why products are so cheap and it is usually to do with quality….or lack of it or poor customer service. The products which schools buy need to pass the test of time subjected to constant daily rigorous use and if they are not built to withstand this, then you are quite simply wasting your money.

Quality of Materials

In the main, we either use premium grade cedar or tanalised Grade 4 Scandinavian redwood pine. Cedar has many advantageous attributes in that it does not need any further on-going maintenance or preservative treatment and does not rot or decay. As a result, we offer an extended warranty period of 15 years on cedar based products against timber rot, degradation or decay. And as it requires very little on-going maintenance, there are huge savings to be had further on down the line for a school. We have estimated that with an extended life period of five years over other competitive products and with little annual on-going maintenance required, a school can actually save £3,000 – £5,000 in real terms.

If we are using Scandinavian redwood pine, these timbers are all tanalised (a wood preservative which is injected under pressure into the core of the timber) but we use Grade 4 tannalith which is the highest grade you can buy.

We never use whitewoods and we never use ply for the underside of roofs – reason being? They are low standard, poor quality materials which over time will decay and rot and eventually need replacing.

For our adventure trim trails and play equipment range, we now use recycled plastic rather than timber. There are very good reasons why we are doing this and these are:

Recycled plastic does not rot (timber when placed in the ground will eventually rot due to below ground moisture ingress) or decay even when dug into the ground

It lasts five times longer than timber

It does splinter, crack or have “shakes”

It is eco friendly as it is made from recycling plastic milk bottles

It is hard to vandalise and is free from insect infestation

Assistance with Funding

We always try and work alongside our school customers and help them with fundraising if so required. As a result of this, we have managed to compile a comprehensive funding guide which lists details on available grants, how to go about successfully writing application bids but also features other important information on how to have a crowd funding website, how to attract sponsorship from local companies and how to realise revenues from renting out the school’s existing premises and facilities.

Referral Commission Programme

We operate a system whereby if your school and/or PTA were able to recommend us to another school – or you were prepared to let another school come and have a look at your Hideout House product – then we would offer a commission equivalent to 3% of the sale value if this recommendation turned into a full sale.

If you were also able to feature our product on your school’s website with a photo (which we would provide), a copy mention of our company with a website link, then we would donate £150 to your PTA fund.

Multiple Purchase Discounts

If you were looking to order a number of products in one order, then we will always look at offering you a competitive discount structure.

For further information on the Hideout House Company and its products, please contact us on 01832 275902 or email us on info@hideouthouse.com

https://www.hideouthouse.com

You would like to think that it was fairly straightforward developing your playground but sometimes it can be quite daunting. So over the years we have developed our levels of service to ensure that we can help you every step of the way right from the initial concept through to final completion.

Below are some of the ancillary areas where we can help:

Funding

This subject seems to dominate a lot of our conversations nowadays! We appreciate that funding is tight in schools at the moment so we have developed proven ways to help you. Firstly, we can send you our comprehensive funding guide which lists grant providers you might want to approach but the guide also gives useful information on how to approach local companies for sponsorship and how to go about setting up a crowdfunding website. We always advise schools to spread the net out as widely as possible – so don’t just rely on applying for one grant and hope for the best. You need to have as many rods out as possible as not all of them will eventually get a bite. And it goes without saying that you need to put the effort in and be committed and dedicated to the cause.

Or we partner with a fundraising consultant (who is actually an ex-school business manager and who has raised over £4 million for school projects over the years) who can help you and save you a lot of time and hassle. His approach is a holistic one as he considers the many different funding channels available to your school as well as researching grant providers for your project both locally and on a national basis.

Planning Permission & Building Regulations

This really applies to our outdoor classrooms and school classrooms range (especially the larger enclosed versions) where schools need to consider if the building needs planning permission or not. We have a lot of experience in this matter and can help or advise accordingly. Basically, the majority of outdoor classrooms we install do not require planning permission because they fall within permitted development rights – there are certain stipulations that you have to adhere to for this exemption such as distances from boundaries, height of the classroom etc but we can advise you on these and send you our information files.

But we do always stress that every school is different as they might have already used up their permitted development rights for example with other previous building projects. A definitive answer however will have to come from the local planning authority and a lot of authorities nowadays run a pre-app service whereby for a small fee, they will advise you as to whether or not they think your project will require planning permission or not.

If you do need to apply for planning however, then we can certainly put together the planning drawings you will require for our classroom buildings which will form part of your application. These typically have a pictorial representation of the classroom building showing all dimensions, elevations and specifications.

As the majority of outdoor classrooms fall below 30m2, there is not the need to apply for building regs as they are exempt as this square metreage. If your building does go over 30m2 however, we are able to apply for and manage all building control issues on your behalf.

Network of Suppliers

If your project involves elements or products which we as the Hideout House Company cannot provide from our own comprehensive range, then we have many contacts in the industry who can help out or with whom we can partner so that you have an easy to manage “one stop shop”. Typically these would involve landscaping, safety surfacing, fencing or renewable energy systems.

And of course, we will always help out and advise on our own product range making sure that you have what you want rather than what we want to sell you. Over the course of 18 years, we have supplied many schools up and down the country with products that have fully met their brief and are of a high enough quality to withstand the test of time and the daily rigours of a school playground.

For further information on our product range, please contact us on 01832 275902, email info@hideouthouse.com or visit http://www.timberline.co.uk

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”

Theodore Roosevelt

I love this quotation and when it comes to defining your marketing strategies and positioning your school, this should sit at the heart of how you think and what you do. Some of us operate in Primary Schools in isolated rural communities, others within huge MAT’s in urban conglomerations but we share the same passion and commitment to do the best we can for our children. It’s easy to lose sight of this when labouring over strategic approaches to income generation or devising cunning new ways to engage on social media platforms.

But what do we actually mean by Marketing in the education arena? There are many definitions of course but perhaps my favourite would be that offered by David & Ellison (1997) – “The means by which the school actively communicates and promotes its purpose, values and products to the pupils, parents, staff and wider community.” There are two key words here; purpose and values. So, ask yourself, do you really understand your school’s purpose and values?

There are many of course who doubt the value of marketing our schools. And to be fair, if we indulge in ad-hoc and wasteful campaigns then we deserve to invite scepticism and doubt. On the other hand, if we’re clear on what we’re looking to achieve and are able to demonstrate a return on our investment, then we have nothing to shy away from and the results can be overwhelmingly positive.

It is really important to have a strategic approach, a plan which can be costed and evaluated. It’s equally important to get away from thinking of marketing as an isolated activity (an advert, a poster) – marketing is something that all stakeholders should be aware of and appreciate. Students, staff, parents and governors – they are all stakeholders in the schools and as such should be considered as “brand ambassadors” – engage with them and they can be very powerful advocates of your school brand. We should avoid the natural (and understandable) kneejerk and panic stricken reaction to the issues faced and instead look to deploy an approach which sits alongside the over-arching school improvement plan. Placing some additional advertisements in the local newspaper is the cherry on the cake (so to speak!), whereas school leaders should look for the cake ingredients first – defining key messages, clarity on our branding and identity and understanding our purpose.

Your marketing plan may look to address some or even all of the following:
•Defining Brand and Values & promoting key messages
•To manage Reputation – reinforcing or modifying?
•To attract and retain the best staff – talented staff help drive standards
•For Communications/PR/Media/Crisis Management – business continuity, press releases
•To sustain or recruit more students – why your school? Key messages and USP.
•To attract funding and support – sponsors, funders, commercial engagement. Aligning of values.
•To engage with alumni/former students – £1bn+ donated to UK Universities by alumni in 2017.

I often refer to “Start With Why” from Simon Sinek’s Ted talk – Simon extols the virtues of defining your “why” and articulating that to your community, rather than focusing purely on the “how” and the “what”. This works for us in education; we operate in an emotive, human-centric environment – the language and tone we choose is critical when it comes to crafting emotive connections with your audiences. Astute school marketeers should also recognise the part culture has to play.

Peter Druker, the renowned management consultant once claimed “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. But how can we measure and articulate our culture? One way might be to run a small “brand mapping” exercise –pulling together a set of shared core values, involving students and staff. This is a very worthwhile exercise and will underpin your key marketing messages. Staff and students are ambassadors, engage with them first.

Remember Marketing and Income Generation go hand in hand – strategic marketing can help define and articulate key benefits to potential supporters and position your school so that it’s attractive to investors. Similarly, if you’re fully aware of the contents of your Income Generation plan then you can segment your target audience(s) and approach them accordingly. These two strategies need to synergise and support one-another – take the Independent/Private School sector – there’s a good reason why development, communications and marketing staff generally sit beside one another!

Developing sustainable partnerships with other organisations can be very fruitful and deliver real benefits to your school. Soft outcomes could include work experience opportunities, guest speakers and valuable insights into the world of industry.

Either way, marketing your school in a coherent and structured way can reinforce your reputation as an institution worth investing in.

The above is a guest blog from Justin Smith, the Managing Director of Chameleon Training and Consultancy

www.chameleon-training.co.uk